1) What are health disparities?
Health disparities are gaps in health and health care between minorities and non-minoritis.
2) Who is affected by health disparities?
The main people affected by health disparities are minority group. They can be affected in many different ways depending on their situation and ethnicity.
3) What are some of the different health disparities?
Health disparities can include inability to access health care, increased risk for Diabetes, Asthma, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, HIV/AIDS and higher rates of infant mortality.
4) Who is at greater risk for Diabetes?
African Americans, Hispanic, American Indians and Alaskan Native adults are about twice as likely as whites to have diabetes. The highest prevalence rates of diabetes are in American Indians.
5)Who is at greatest risk for Asthma?
African Americans have the greatest risk for asthma. They account for 26% of all asthma deaths and suffer a death rate from asthma three times greater than that for whites.
6) Who is at greatest risk for Cancer?
African Americans are more likely to die from cancer than any other racial or ethnic group. And lung cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanic men, second in women.
7) Who is at greatest risk for HIV/AIDS?
The highest percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS and those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are African Americans.
8) Which ethnic or racial group has the highest incidence of infant mortality?
The infant mortality rate of native Hawaiians is 60% higher than among whites. And African American infants are twice as likely to die as infants than compared to white infants.
9) Who is most affected by Cardiovascular Disease?
Both heart disease and stroke deaths are significantly higher among African Americans than among whites?
10) Why do people suffer from these disparities?
The answer is not simple there are many different factors that create the disparities. Access to health care, being diagnosed later, environment, stress and more all are factors that lead to health disparities.
Many of the answers were found at the Center for Health Equity. For more information please follow the link.
